US Department of Energy approached to implement an ambitious project to create a new generation supercomputer called “Discovery”. This technological colossus promises to be a real breakthrough in the world of high-performance computing, significantly surpassing the capabilities of its predecessors.
Currently, the title of the most powerful supercomputer is known to belong to Frontier, installed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. But apparently its dominance may be short-lived. Discovery plans to not just bypass, but literally eclipse its predecessor, promising performance 3-5 times higher.
Let’s look at the characteristics of the current leader:
First, Frontier has a performance of 1.2 exaflops. Second, its peak power reaches 1.715 exaflops. Third, it is equipped with 8,699,904 cores.
Discovery is poised to raise the bar even higher, with preliminary estimates suggesting theoretical performance could reach 6.5 exaflops.
Georgia Tourassi, director of ORNL’s Computer Science and Engineering Laboratory, is enthusiastic about the new supercomputer’s potential:
Discovery will open up entirely new possibilities for scientists to model the real world. We will be able to study complex problems that were previously impossible to study through experiments, observations, or theoretical calculations alone.
It is important to note that behind this technological breakthrough there is not only a desire for scientific progress, but also geopolitical rivalry. Recently, there have been rumors that China has already created a supercomputer that is 3-4 times better than Frontier. For example, Jack Dongarra, co-founder of Top500, recently shared with the Wall Street Journal:
According to our data, the Chinese already have machines that work significantly faster.
In conclusion, the world is on the threshold of a new era of supercomputer technologies. And although the exact completion date of Project Discovery has not yet been disclosed, one thing is clear: the United States intends to play a leading role in this era.
